University Lectures

Fall 2001

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:03:03 +0000

Thomas Krens is reinventing the museum. One look at a recent exhibition will prove it: The Art Of The Motorcycle. Motorcycles? In Museums? Yes. Since joining the Guggenheim Foundation as their director, Krens has been building brave new museums while eschewing the common perception of what a museum is, and what a museum can be. Krens has developed the Guggenheim into a world wide phenomenon with museums in Venice, Berlin, Bilbao Spain, and the newest in Las Vegas. Dr. Thomas Krens is an exciting, spontaneous speaker whose lectures and ideas appeal to anyone who has an appreciation for art.

Back

Fall 2001

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:02:25 +0000

Juan Williams, one of America’s leading political writers and thinkers, is the author of the critically acclaimed biography: Thurgood Marshall – American Revolutionary. He is also the author of the nonfiction bestseller Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, companion volume to the critically praised PBS series. After a 23-year career as a columnist, editorial writer, and White House correspondent for The Washington Post, Williams recently became a Senior Correspondent for NPR News after spending 18 highly successful months as the host of National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation.

Back

Fall 2001

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:01:52 +0000

Author of the acclaimed best-seller How the Mind Works, Dr. Pinker is the Peter de Florez Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, where he has received awards for his graduate and undergraduate teaching. He was among Newsweek’s “100 Americans for the Next Century,” and is author of the previous bestseller, The Language of Instinct. In addition to his many scholarly publications, he writes frequently in the popular press, including the New York Times, and The New Yorker. He was a scientific advisor for the NOVA series on Evolution, and is on the usage panel for the American Heritage Dictionary. Dr. Pinker is one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists, and is renowned for his engaging and thought-provoking lectures.

Back

Fall 2001

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:01:12 +0000

• Senator Mitchell has been a peacemaker for the world and the environment for over 20 years. Served 14 years in the Senate, including 6 years as Senate Majority leader.

• In 1998, under the leadership of Senator Mitchell, the governments of Ireland and the UK and the political parties of Northern Ireland agreed on an historic accord to end decades of conflict.

• In October 2000, at the request of former President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Barak, and Palestinian Chairman Arafat, Mitchell chaired the Commission that examined the current crisis between Israelis and Palestinians.

• For his work in Northern Ireland, Mitchell is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor that the United States government bestows.

Back

Spring 2002

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:00:03 +0000

A discussion with George McGovern about ending the modern blight of hunger. The lecture will be moderated by Robert Hass. For the last quarter-century, no person has ranked higher in liberal causes and no person has been so identified with Democratic Party principles than has Senator George McGovern. From the farmland to the Oval Office, McGovern has brought new direction to many issues in American politics. Robert Hass has changed what it means to be Poet Laureate of the United States (95/97). He’s made the Office of Poetry and Literature a position from which to launch action. Armed with the mantra, “Imagination makes communities,” Hass has spent two years battling American illiteracy.

Back

Spring 2002

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:59:18 +0000

Richard Leakey is a man of principle and purpose who has made international headlines for over 30 years. Serving his native country of Kenya as a senior government official, a member of parliament, an opposition political activist, a conservationist, an administrator, a museum director, a scientific researcher, an author and a farmer, Leakey has been both successful and controversial. The son of the famous Dr. Louis B. and Mary Leakey, he is also the world’s best-known paleoanthropologist, credited with some of the most significant fossil discoveries of the 20th century.

Uncompromising in his crusade against government corruption and unwavering in his devotion to his country, Leakey, a lifelong critic of the mismanagement of Kenya’s wildlife, was appointed Director of Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) in 1989, where he led the effort to end elephant poaching in Africa. He drew international support for a ban on the trade in ivory and raised $150 million for wildlife conservation. However, his tenure was interrupted when his plane crashed in 1993 claiming both of his legs. The following year, Leakey resigned his post, declaring that government corruption had undermined KWS.

Back

Spring 2002

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:58:38 +0000

Bruce Mau will present his new ideas about defining and understanding the objects we create and the context in which we create them. Using his own interdisciplinary design practice as a springboard for discussion, Bruce will talk about his methods for working in collaboration with architects, artists, writers, designers, musicians, photographers, philosophers, editors, and curators.

Back

Spring 2002

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:57:52 +0000

Salmon Rushdie is among the few most highly acclaimed writers of our time. His books include Grimus, Midnight’s Children, Shame, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, the highly controversial work, The Satanic Verses, and his recent novel, Fury. In this conversation he will offer some initial observations, then respond to questions first from a panel of discussants and then from the audience. The conversation will address how the world has changed since September 11 but will be in a larger sense literary, focusing on Mr. Rushdie’s writing and on that of others.

Back

Spring 2002

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:57:01 +0000

Mortimer B. Zuckerman publishes U.S. News & World Report and the New York Daily News. He is Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report. He is also the founder of Boston Properties, Inc. A graduate of McGill University, Mr. Zuckerman also has degrees from McGill Law School, The Wharton Graduate School of Business and Harvard Law School and has received three honorary degrees. He is trustee of Memorial Sloan-Kettering and New York University. Mr. Zuckerman serves on the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. He is on the Chase Manhattan Corporation National Advisory Board, the Washington Institute for Near East Studies and Applied Graphics Technologies, Loews Cineplex and the Center for Communications. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the International Institute of Strategic Studies. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. Mr. Zuckerman was awarded the Commandeur De L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France.

Back

Spring 2002

Admin — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 20:56:16 +0000

David McCullough, whose biography John Adams hit the New York Times bestsellers list at number one, has been called a “master of the art of narrative history.” His books have been praised for their exceptional narrative sweep, their scholarship and insight into American life, and their literary distinction. In the words of the citation accompanying his honorary degree from Yale, “As an historian, he paints with words, giving us pictures of the American people that live, breath, and above all, confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement, and moral character.” Mr. McCullough about First Principles: “With change accelerating all around, more and more we need greater understanding and appreciation of those principles upon which the Republic was founded.”

Back